A trip to the forest

Chapter 2

!TW - Anxiety, Stress, Bad body image!

The drive is expected to take about two hours. Tao is the one driving while Elle is the front passenger. In the back of the car, Charlie sits in the middle, because he is the smallest. Nick sits to his right side and Isaac to his left. Charlie feels a little shaky, but he doesn't know if it's because he's exited or scared - maybe both. The others don't know how bad Charlie's mental health has been lately, and that's also something he doesn't want them to find out. Nick puts a hand on Charlie's leg to calm him down a bit.

When they arrive, they start it all with a house tour. Tao shows everyone their rooms and where they will be sleeping, then he also shows where the kitchen, living room and all the toilets are. Nick and Charlie have been given the largest room in the house, upstairs as well - there is a large bed, a wardrobe, a bookcase with books and a carpet on the floor. Tao and Elle also share a room while Isaac got his own room.

When everyone has made themselves like home, the gang decides to go down to the small village which is a 10 minute walk from the house. The sun is warming and everyone is wearing as little clothing as possible so as not to die of heat. But despite that, Charlie is wearing one of Nick's hoodies. He doesn't feel good and confident in himself right now and wants to hide as much of his body as possible, especially now that Isaac, Elle and Tao are around.

"Look" Elle says and points towards a large square with lots of stalls.
"Maybe there's something there we can have for lunch?" She continuing excitedly, she takes Tao in one hand and Isaac in the other and runs towards the stalls. Nick turns around and sees that something is wrong with Charlie, but at the same time he doesn't want to be too on, as he knows that Charlie can easily get angry when he's not in the right headspace.
"Are you okay?" Nick asks calmly and looks at Charlie, who is looking down at his shoes. He pulls his hood up before slowly shaking his head.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Nick asks. He crouches down in front of Charlie so he can look up and see his face. Charlie meets Nick's eyes and, again, shakes his head.
"It's okay, you don't have to. Is there anything else you want to say or something I should know?" Nick asks, still trying to stay calm. He really knows how to handle Charlie in these stressful situations. Charlie looks up and looks around at all the people, before looking back down at Nick sitting in front of him.
"D... don't.. leave.. m.. me" Charlie sobs. Nick stands up and gives him a big, warm hug.
"I promise, I won't"